Greater household expenditures on fruits and vegetables but not animal source foods are associated with decreased risk of under-five child mortality among families in rural Indonesia.
The specific aims of this study were to examine the relationships between household food expenditures and under-5 child mortality among families in rural Indonesia. Data collected between 2000 and 2003 in the Indonesia Nutrition and Health Surveillance System, a population-based surveillance system conducted in 7 rural provinces, were utilized for the analysis. Food expenditures were divided into 4 major categories: plant foods (fruits and vegetables), animal foods, other nongrain foods, and grain foods (primarily rice) and expressed as quintiles of proportional food expenditure. Of 292,894 households, 32,777 (11.2%) households reported a history of under-5 child mortality. Plant food expenditures were associated with reduced odds of under-5 child mortality [odds ratio (OR), 0.70; 95% CI, 0.67-0.73; P < 0.0001) among families in the highest quintile compared with the lowest quintile, adjusting for potential confounders. Grain food expenditures were associated with increased odds of under-5 child mortality (OR, 1.25; 95% CI, 1.20-1.30; P < 0.0001) among families in the highest quintile compared with the lowest quintile, adjusting for potential confounders. Animal food expenditures were not consistently and significantly associated with under-5 child mortality across quintiles of expenditures. These findings suggest that lower under-5 child mortality is found in households that spend a greater proportion of income on plant foods and less on grain foods in rural Indonesia.
Campbell
Ashley A
AA
Department of Ophthalmology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
Thorne-Lyman
Andrew
A
Sun
Kai
K
de Pee
Saskia
S
Kraemer
Klaus
K
Moench-Pfanner
Regina
R
Sari
Mayang
M
Akhter
Nasima
N
Bloem
Martin W
MW
Semba
Richard D
RD
D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002645:Chickens; D002648:Child; D046688:Child Mortality / Q000639:trends*; D005399:Fishes; D005638:Fruit / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D007214:Indonesia; D008460:Meat / Q000191:economics*; D008892:Milk / Q000191:economics*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012306:Risk; D012307:Risk Factors; D012424:Rural Population; D014675:Vegetables / Q000191:economics*